Pile fabric and method of and apparatus for weaving the same



J. ERKES Feb. 26, I935.

FILE FABRIC AND METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR WEAVING THE SAME Filed April 6. 1934 f K j Z I IN VEN TOR. Lfo-sepfi Ei'a ATTORNEY.

Patented Fears, 193,;

PATENT orrlca PILE FABRIC AND METHOD OF AND APPA- RATUS FOR WEAVING THE SAIME Joseph Erkes, Philadelphia, Pa. Application April 6, 1934, Serial No. 719,247

Claims.

5 duction of my novel fabric I provide a double shuttle loom with a pair of sets of pile gages extending warpwise. One of such sets of gages is composed of substantially round flexible metallic wires which are shedded, and'the other set of such. gages is preferably composed of relatively rigid flat wires sufficiently thin to pass through reed spaces and of such height as will give a desired height to certain pile loops to be formed. This second set of gages is permitted to remain stationary during the weaving of the fabric.

In weaving the fabric in accordance with my method, a series of pairs of wefts are laid and ground warps and pile warps are interlaced therewith; the wefts of each pair being simultaneously laid by the shuttles, and some of such wefts being laid below both sets of gages to interlace the ground warps and tie pile warps in the ground from time to time, other of such wefts being laid between the sets of gages to support loops formed by some of the pile warps, and the remainder of the wefts being laid above the sets of gages to support loops formed by the remainder of pile warps.

The set of flexible gages is preferably positioned above and shedded relatively to the set of gages which remain stationary.- As the lower set of gages need not be shedded, the flat metallic strips comprised therein may have any height within a wide range to give a desired height to the shorter of the groups of pile loops and still be made suificiently thin to pass through the spaces of a fine reed. The upper set of flexible pile gages, preferably consisting of substantially round flexible metallic wires, having a diameter which will pass through the spaces of .the reed, or of a hinged wire of any cross-sectiomhave their outer ends supported by the wefts laid on the stationary gages. Consequently, the height of pile loops in fabric made in accordance with my invention is not limited by the width of the reed spaces, as is the case where all of the pile gages are shedded.

All ofthe pile warps may be utilized in the formation of loops of different heightsso that only a single pile let-off mechanism need be used. 01' different let-off mechanism may be used to let off the pile warps as may be required by the design of the particular fabric being woven. The

height of the shorter loops is regulated by the height of the flat gages used and the height of the longer loops is dependent upon the height of the shorter loops and the diameter of the flexible pile gages, and may be influenced to a slight extent by the lift of the gages in shedding.

If desiredthe face weft for supporting one of the groups of loops in a row may be laid between the gages and the sequential face weft for supporting the other group of loops in such row may be laid abovethe gages without crossing the groups of pile warps forming the respective groups of loops in the row between the interlacings of the pile warps with the ground picks interlacing them with the ground. But preferably the two groups of pile warps are crossed between the two face wefts so that one of such picks is housed within one group of loops only and engages the sides of the legs of the other group of loops which houses the second face weft only. This crossing of the pile warps be- H tween the face wefts housed in a row of loops accentuates the differences in the lengths of yarn in the different groups of loops and also tends to deflect the loops of one group in a row relative to the loops of the other group in the same row so as to give the appearance of a somewhat irregular line or row of loops although the bases of all the loops in a row are interlaced under the same ground wefts. When the lower shuttle lays a ground weft for interlacing the pile warps in the ground, the upper shuttle, of course, lays a complementary weft which supports the upper gages and may be removed.

By my invention there may be rapidly and economically produced a pile fabric comprising a ground having rows of pile loops extending transversely of the fabric, and with all or some of the rows of pile loops rendered irregular in appearance by differences in the height of pile loops in a row or deflection of some of the loops in a row from other loops of such row, or by both differences in height and deflection of loops in the same row.

The longer loops may be out without cutting the shorter loops so as to form cut and uncut fabrics of irregular appearance and pleasing design in which some or all of the rows of pile extending transversely of the fabric may contain both out and uncut tufts and in which some or all of the pile warps extending longitudinally of the fabric may form uncut loops over certain wefts and cut tufts at other wefts, with a consequent varigated appearance. The appearance polating rows of uniform loops between the rows and texture may be further diversified by interof irregular loops or by the use of a Jacquard attachment for varying the character and color of the pile warps in action and forming a design.

The characteristic features and advantages of my improvements will further. appear from the following description and the accompanying drawing in illustration thereof.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of a part of a double shuttle loom provided with vertically spaced sets of pile gages for the practice of my method and production of my product; Fig. 2 illustrates diagrammatically the practice of my method to produce a type of fabric having a three pick repeat; Fig. 3 illustrates diagrammatically the practice of my method to produce a type of fabric having a six pick repeat; Fig. 4 illustrates diagrammatically the practice v of my method to produce a second type of fabric having a six pick repeat; and Fig. 5 illustrates diagrammatically the practice of my method to produce a fabric having an eight pick repeat and a row of regular loops between rows of irregular loops.

In the practice of my invention, I may utilize a known type of double shuttle loom having usual warp rolls or Jacquard attachments (not shown) for supplying warps which are shedded by heddles A, B, C and D to form sheds at the reed E of the lay F for the passage of the shuttles G and H, which are simultaneously picked from the same side or from opposite sides of the loom. The wefts so laid are beaten up by the oscillation of the reed against the fell I of the single piece fabric J which is drawn off by usual take-up rolls (not shown).

In accordance with my invention, I mount upon such a loom a cross-rod K having fixed thereto a set of rigid pile gages L formed of thin strips having a height proportioned to the height of certain of the loops that are to be formed. These pile gages project warpwise between the heddles and through reed spaces of the reed and are held in substantially stationary position above the path of the lower shuttle G with their ends projecting a short distance beyond the fell-line I.

The second set of pile gages M are pivotally connected with the cross-bar and consist of substantially round or hinged flexible wires which pass warpwise through eyes N of the heddle 0. These gages, also project slightly beyond the fell-line I of the fabric, above the lower set of gages L and are shedded by the rise and fall of the heddle O in the same general manner as the ground warps and pile warps are shedded by the rise and fall of the heddles A, B, C and D. Sometimes the set of pile gages M is above the path of travel of the upper shuttle H so that the weft laid by the shuttle H lies between the sets of gages, and sometimes the pile gages M are below the path of travel of the upper shuttle H, so that the weft laid by such shuttle is then above the gages, and

is lifted by the subsequent rise of such gages.

by the heddle O to elongatethe loops formed by the shedding of pile warps over such wefts.

In the practice of my method for forming a fabric with a threepick repeat, such as shown in Fig. 2, and starting with the portion of the cycle in which the pile warps are interlaced in the ground, the heddles A,.B, C, D and 0 are so operated that the upper gages M are in the top position, the pile warpsl and 2 and the ground 'warp 3 are in the bottom position, and the ground warp 4 is preferably in the intermediate position so as to lie between the paths: of travel of the shuttles G and H. When the ground warp 4 is in the middle position, the simultaneous picking of the-shuttles G and H, from the same or opposite sides of the loom, cause the shuttle G to lay a pick a in the shed formed by the warps 1, 2, 3 and 4 below the gages L and causes the shuttle H to lay a complementary pick a between the gages L and M. The wefts are beaten up by the oscillation of the reed E and the heddles A, B, C and D are moved to shed the warps. The group of warps 1 are elevated to the upper position, the group of pile warps 2 and ground warps 3 are elevated to the intermediate position, and the ground warps 4 moved to the low position. The picking of the shuttles G and H lays the lower weft 1) between the ground warps and the upper wefts b' between the pile warps. After the wefts b and b are beaten up, the heddles move the pile warps 1 to the intermediate position, move the pile warps '2 to the top position, move the gages M to the intermediate position, and, preferably, leave the ground warps as they were while the picks c and c are laid by the shuttles G and H. These picks are beaten up as the heddles move to the position first described for interlacing the pile warps in the ground upon the laying of a. second pair of picks it and d, with which the cycle begins to repeat.

The. elevation of the gages M lifts the picks c a distance above the wefts b to form a loop of desired longer length than the loops over the wefts b. In the repeat of this cycle, one group of warp ends form all the short loops and another group of warp ends form all the long loops.

In the diagrammatic and exaggerated illustration of Fig. 2,, a cycle'isshown with the yarns in the position they occupy when the wefts are beaten up and another cycle is shown with the yarns in the positions they would occupy if the wefts were not beaten up but left in the relative positions they occupied when laid. It will, how-- ever, be understood that in practice each pair of picks is beaten up as soon as laid.

In the utilization of my method to form from the same pile warps ends long loops over some picks and short loops over other picks, I may utilize six pick repeats such as illustrated in Figures 3 and 4.

In the embodiment of my invention illustrated in Figure 3, the pile-warp and ground warp ends are manipulated during the laying of the first three pair of picks a, a, b, b, c, c, d, d, in the same manner as described in connection with the first cycle of Figure 2. Upon the beating up of the picks d, d, the heddles are operated to lift the group of pile warps 2 to the top position and the group of pile warps 1 to the intermediate position, the ground warps being manipulated the same as in the previously described cycle. The picks e, e' are then laid and beaten up; the pile warps 1 and 2 are crossed and the pile warps 2 and the gages M are moved to the" intermediate position and the pile warps 1 aremoved to the top position. The wefts f, I are then laid and beaten up and the warps .and gages are shedded to the original or starting position; the lifting of the gages M raising the wefts f and elongating:

is produced from that resulting from the cutting of the long loops of the three pick repeat shown in Figure 2. The cutting of the long loops formed by each pile warp end results in the formation of low loops and cut pile tufts from each pile warp end. Consequently, the accidental catching and pullingof a loop cannot result in a major defacement of a considerable length of fabric, as occurs when the pulling of a pile warp thread flattens or removes a whole longitudinal row of uncut loops.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 4, the sequence of the shedding operations is changed so that the weft e is laid under the pile warp ends 1 to form long loops and the pick I is laid under the pile warp ends 2 to form short loops.

In the eighth pick repeat, illustrated in Fig. 5, the first four pair of picks a, a, b, b, c, c, d, d are laid and the warps l, 2,, 3 and 4 are manipulated inthe same manner as described in connection with Fig. 2. But in the eight pick repeat of Fig. 5, the pile warp ends 1 and 2 are all moved to the top position upon the beating up of the picks d, d. The ground warps 3 are moved to the intermediate position and the ground warps 4 moved to the lower position. After the laying of the picks e, e' the pile warp ends 1 and 2 are all moved to the lowermost position so as to form the pile warp ends 1 and 2 a row of uniform low loops over the face weft e'. During the laying of the remaining three pairs of wefts, f, f, g, g, h, h of the cycle of Fig. 5, the

warps are shedded in the same manner as they are during the laying of the pairs of wefts d, d, e, e, 12]" in the cycle of Fig. 4. Hence, in a complete eight pick repeat, as shown in Fig. 5, the group of pile warp ends 1 form first two rows of low loops and one row of high loops-and the group or pile warp ends 2 forms first one row of high loops and then two rows of low loops.

Many other sequences of shedding are, of

course, possible within the scope of my invention of simultaneously throwing complementary ground picks and face picks and controlling the position of the face picks by the utilization of a set of stationary pile wires and a set of shedded pile wires in the weaving of a single fabric.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In the weaving of pile fabrics in a single piece in a loom having a pair of simultaneously movable weft carriers and a set of stationary rigid pile gages extending warpwise and a set of flexible pile gages extendingwarpwise, the steps which consist inlaying pairs of wefts in sequence and interlacing warps with said weft, one weft of each pair being laid below the lower set of gages, and shedding the set of flexible gages so that some of the other wefts are laid between the sets of gages and other of the wefts are laid above the flexible gages.

2. In the weaving of pile fabric in a single piece in a loom having a pair of simultaneously movable weft carriers'and containing a pair of sets of pile gages extending'warpwise, the steps which consist in laying a series of pairs of wefts, the wefts of each pair being simultaneously laid by the weft carriers, and interlacing ground warps and pile warps with such wefts; some of said wefts being laid beneath both sets of gages and interlaced withground warps, other of said wefts being laid between the sets of gages and supporting loops formed by some of the pile warps, and other of the wefts being laid above the sets of gages and supporting loops formed by other of the pile warps.

3. In the weaving of pile fabric in a single piece in a double shuttle loom containing a pair 1 of spaced sets of pile gages extending warpwise, the steps which consist in laying a series of pairs of wefts, the wefts of each pair being simultaneously laid by the shuttles, and interlacing ground warp and pile warp threads with wefts aforesaid, one weft of each pair being laid below the sets of gages and wefts of some of the pairs being laid between the sets of gages, and wefts of other of the pairs being laid above the sets of gages, and moving the gages of one set while holding the gages of the other set stationary and thereby forming loops of different lengths.

4. In the weaving of pile fabrics in a single piece in a loom having a pair of simultaneously movable weft carriers and containing a pair of vertically spaced sets of pile gages extending warpwise, the steps which consist in laying pairs of wefts in sequence and interlacing warps with said wefts; one weft of each pair being laid below the lower sets of gages, some of the other wefts being laid between the gages, and other of the wefts being laid above the upper gages.

5. In the weaving of pile fabrics in a single piece in a double shuttle loom containing a pair of vertically spaced sets of pile gages extending warpwise, the steps which consist in laying in. sequence pairs of wefts, the wefts of each pair being simultaneously laid, and interlacing warps with wefts aforesaid, some of said wefts being laid below the lower set of gages, some of said wefts being laid between the sets of gages, and other of said wefts being laid above the upper gages.-

6. In the weaving of pile fabric in a single piece in a double shuttle loom containing a pair of vertically spaced sets of pile gages extending warpwise, the steps which consist in shedding ground warps and pile warps and laying a pair of wefts simultaneously so that the pile warps and ground warps are interlaced in the ground by one of said wefts, then shedding the pile warps and ground warps and laying a second pair of wefts simultaneously so that one of said second pair of wefts is interlaced with the ground warps and the other of said second pair of wefts is interlaced between one group of said pile warps and another group of said pile warps and lies between said pile gages; and then shedding pile warps and ground warps and laying a third pair of picks simultaneously so that one of said third pair of picks is interlaced with the ground warps and the other of said third pair of picks is disposed between the legs of the loop formed by the second named group of said pile warps and lies above the upper set of pile loops.

7. In the weaving of pile fabric in a single piece in a double shuttle loom containing a pair of-vertically spaced sets of pile gages extend= ing warpwise, the steps which consist in shed= ding ground warps and pile warps and laying a pair of wefts simultaneously,'one of said wefts being laid under the lower set of pile gages and interlacing the pile warps and ground warps, then shedding warps aforesaid and laying a sec ond pair of wefts simultaneously, one of said second pair of wefts being laid under the lower set of pile gages and the other of said second pair of wefts being laid between said sets of pile gages,

and supporting a group of pile wa p shedding.

warps aforesaid and laying a third pair of wefts simultaneously, one of said thirdvpair of wefts being laid under the lower set of pile gages and the other of the third pair of wefts being laid above the upper pile gages and supporting a ing mechanism and a plurality of simultaneously movable weft carriers, of a set of stationary rigid pile gages'extending warpwise and disposed between the paths of said weft carriers, :3. set of flexible pile gages extending warpwise, and means for shedding said flexible gages across the path of one of said weft carriers.

9. In a loom, the combination with a reed, of a set of rigid stationary pile gages extending warpwise through spaces of said reed, a set of flexible pile gages extending warpwise through said reed, means for shedding said flexible gages, and a pair of weft carriers for simultaneously laying a pair of wefts.

10. In a. loom, the combination with a reed, of a set of rigid stationary flat pile wires extending warpwise through spaces of said reed, a set of flexible pile gages extending warpwise through spaces of said reed above the gages first named, means for shedding the second named pile gages, and a pair of simultaneously movable weft carriers, the wefts laid by one of said carriers being all below said gages and the wefts laid by the other of said weftcarriers being partly between and partly above said gages,

- 11. In the weaving of pile fabric in a single piece in a double shuttle loom containing a pair of vertically spaced sets of pile gages. extending warpwise, the steps which consist in laying simultaneously wefts from both of said shuttles, some of the wefts from .one of said shuttles being laid between the sets of pile gages and other of the wefts from said last named shuttle being laid outside of said gages.

12. In the weaving of pile fabric in a single piece in a double shuttle loom containing a pair of vertically spaced sets of pile gages extending warpwise, the steps which consist in simultaneously laying a ground weft and a face weft as a pair repeatedly, some of said face wefts being laid above the upper set of pile gages and other of the face wefts being laid between the sets of pile gages.

13. In the weaving of pile fabric in a single piece in a double shuttle loom containing a pair of vertically spaced sets of pile gages extending warpwise, the steps which consist in weaving a ground beneath the lower set of gages and including therein ground wefts laid by one of said shuttles, and laying simultaneously with the laying of each ground pick a face pick from the other of said shuttles, some of said face picks being laid between said sets of gages and other of said face picks being laid on the side of the upper set of pile gages remote from said ground.

14. In the'weaving of pile fabric in a single piece in a double shuttle loom containing a pair of vertically spaced sets of pile gages extending warpwise of the loom, the steps which consist in shedding the upper set of pile gages to permit the laying of wefts on thelower set of gages to support short pile loops, and shedding the upper set of pile gages to permit the laying of wefts thereon to support long pile loops.

15. In the weaving of pile fabric in a single piece in a double shuttle loom containing a pair of vertically spacedsetsof pile gages extending warpwise, the steps which consist in interlacing pile warps in a ground by laying a ground weft, laying a face weft between 'said sets 01' gages and looping a portion only of said pile warps thereover, laying a face weft above the upper set of gages and looping a different portion of said pile warps thereover, and interlacing both said portions in the ground by laying a further ground weft. i

JOSEPH ERKES. 4o 

